onceuponatimefandomcom-20200223-history
Excalibur
Excalibur, formerly known as the Holy Grail, is a magical item featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the first episode of the fifth season. History At some point, Merlin battles the Darkness. In order to defeat it, he tethers it to a living soul who will become known as the Dark One. To keep it at bay, Merlin uses the tip of Excalibur's blade to bind the Dark One to its control, making it known as the Dark One's Dagger. Excalibur is later embedded in a rock. Legends claim whoever can pull it out is the kingdom's true ruler. Knowing of the sword's properties, Prince Charming inspires Snow White into standing up to the Evil Queen, in which he forges a fake Excalibur and urges her to prove herself as the kingdom's ruler by removing the weapon from a stone. After succeeding, a more confident Snow White refuses to give up the throne to the Evil Queen without waging war. Believing Prince Charming received Excalibur from the deal-maker Rumplestiltskin, she then summons him to pay the price for the arrangement only to learn the sword is fake. When Snow White confronts Prince Charming about his lies, she learns he did it as a means to help draw out her courage to challenge the Queen. In search of the sword that will prove the true ruler of Camelot as prophesied by Merlin himself, Arthur, along with Lancelot and Percival, go on a quest to find the Excalibur. They succeed in finding it, but not before Sir Kay does as well. He attempts to pull the sword to become king, but Exacalibur promptly turns his body into ash. Arthur succeeds with pulling out the sword, which makes him the ruler of Camelot, but he discovers the sword's blade tip is missing. Arthur chooses to keep this a secret from the kingdom, while deciding he must make Excalibur whole again. }} After stealing Happy's ax, Emma attempts to cut through the stone to free Excalibur, but instead, it breaks the ax. Rumplestiltskin tells her that only a hero can pull out the sword, and it wouldn't be her. Later, she kidnaps Mr. Gold and awakens him from his coma, with intentions of molding him into the hero she needs to unearth Excalibur. Having done her best to push Mr. Gold to his limit, Merida leaves him at a campsite with his wrists bound together, while she goes to get Emma. In her absence, he breaks the chipped cup, using one of its shards to cut himself free, before fleeing to the library, where he reunites with Belle. After the pair relocate to the pawnshop, they escape from Merida, who has been ordered by Emma to kill Belle, in the hopes of forcing Mr. Gold to be heroic. Later, when Belle realizes Mr. Gold cares more about running away to ensure his own survival than being brave by facing his fears, she parts ways from him. However, when her life is threatened by Merida, who ingested a transfiguration potion, Mr. Gold sacrifices himself to protect her. As the bear rears up to attack again, he braces himself for the blow, only to see the fallen potion, which he throws on the bear, who reverts to human. The trio return to Emma, and Mr. Gold agrees to pull out Excalibur, in exchange for Merida's heart and her brothers' whereabouts. After freeing Excalibur, he prepares to leave with Belle, but first, he warns Emma about her mistake in making him a hero. }} Trivia |-|On-screen Notes= On-screen Notes *Mulan claims to own the most powerful sword in all the realms. However, it is Excalibur that is the most powerful. *Legends state only the kingdom's true ruler possesses the strength to free Excalibur from its stone. |-|Production Notes= Production Notes *According to the episode script for "Skin Deep", a sword on display in Rumplestiltskin's castleFile:112WhenYouArrived.png was meant to be Excalibur.http://www.zen134237.zen.co.uk/Once_Upon_A_Time/Once_Upon_A_Time_1x12_-_%20Skin_Deep.pdf *The jewelled chalice that Rumplestiltskin moves aside in "Skin Deep", was meant to be the Holy Grail. This is also stated by Jane Espenson on the DVD commentary. Appearances References Category:Magic